With its finale airing on Sunday, Oct. 6, CBS Studios’ military drama SEAL Team comes to an end. The seven-season run of an elite unit of the U.S. Navy SEALs on CBS and Paramount+ was one of the few series to bridge the gap between networks and streaming services.
After a successful mission concluded in SEAL Team Season 7’s penultimate episode, resulting in the capture of a fentanyl drug lord and the elimination of a renegade Green Beret, Jason Hayes (David Boreanaz) and Bravo Team return home to Virginia Beach. But the relief with their families, as they process the tense events of the season, is short-lived, as the unit deploys to Afghanistan for one final mission.
Throughout the tenth episode, Jason struggles to reconcile with the large amount of blood on his hands, which is thrown into turmoil by preparations for his daughter Emma’s (Kerri Medders) wedding. After completing a delivery to Afghanistan, Ray Perry (Neil Brown Jr.) and Sonny Quinn (AJ Buckley) accompany Hayes on a side trip to visit the wife of the first man he killed to atone for his sins. However, shortly after, the trio’s car is shot up, as their rescue mission turns chaotic.
As the screen cuts to black, a fake scene briefly appears to show a church gathering—possibly a funeral? However, viewers are soon able to breathe a sigh of relief that the trio survived the mission, as Jason walks his daughter down the aisle as she marries Brad (Brandon Butler). With the lantern lit, it appears that Jason has washed his hands of his past, signaling a new beginning.
So where will the main characters end up? Lisa Davis (Toni Trucks) secured her promotion after Sonny, who admitted to punching Decker in front of the investigative committee, surrendered his SEAL trident. The two were last seen driving together, holding hands. Meanwhile, Ray turned out to be a Bravo member who took over as Chief of Warrior Health at DEVGRU. And while the episode made it seem like Jason was also leaving the battlefield, the final scene saw the character return to the helicopter as a younger member of the SEAL crew, his final words “Easy day!” closing out the show.
“I hope the legacy is that we told an authentic story,” showrunner Spencer Hudnut told TVLine of SEAL Team’s ending. “It’s not a recruitment video, but it’s not a politically-charged view of the military. We tried to tell the true story of our men and women in uniform, and what sacrifice really means.”
With no one killed in the finale and an overall upbeat ending filled with possibilities and new beginnings, it’s possible that the procedural’s story could be revisited in the future. As previously noted, a standalone film was announced for 2022, but there hasn’t been much progress. We hear the project isn’t dead yet, though it’s not currently moving forward.
